Pandemic 2: Better 100-day Strategy

This strategy is only for the President Madagascar Assassin Badge. Winning the game and other badges is much easier by infecting very slowly, but winning in 3000 days will not get the PMA Badge. Winning is easiest starting in Cuba or Greenland. Please post about your win using this system.

Less than 100 days
Main screen shows Hour: Day Month Year
00 : 04 26 2008 when new game first (invalid since no 26th month in year) changes to
13 : 03 08 2008 after first “hour”.
World screen shows: DISEASESTARTDATE: 03/08/2008 DAYSTHATHAVEPASSED: 0
11 : 11 11 2008 wins at 99 days
12 : 11 11 2008 loses at 100 days
When you win, immediately take a screenshot showing your name above Chat and the date in the game.

Closed Regions
Each region has up to three channels to become infected: Airports, Seaports, and/or Borders. Borders are orange lines; islands do not have borders. If all available channels close, the region is closed and the game is lost. Two examples:

Peru has only Borders. Peru can close its Airports and Seaports without effect because it has none, but if the Borders close, Peru cannot be infected.

Madagascar has only a Seaport. Madagascar can close its Borders and Airports without effect. If Madagascar closes its Seaport while uninfected, wait a few days (ships are slow) before restarting. One person reported a ship landed in Madagascar 20 days after the Shipyards closed.

Definitions
Mainland Regions are regions with a border excluding Peru and Argentina. At ~10% infection, other regions start closing.

Populous Islands are Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. These can be ~50% infected before other regions close.

Best Starts are Cuba, Greenland, Madagascar, New Zealand. These can be 100% infected without other regions closing. Madagascar is risky – ships sometimes loop the entire world; a second region should be infected by Day 48 to win under 100 days.

Instructions
Skip the instruction if you already own a Buy or do not own a Sell. Do not buy or sell anything unless instructed.
0. Realistic (is required for the badge.)
1. Virus.
2. Winning becomes much more difficult if a Mainland Region is first. Restart until a good region, preferably a Best Start. Even Peru and Argentina increase the difficulty as Brazil and Mexico will be infected early. The easiest games infect several islands before a Mainland Region. Also restart if given a Trait such as Airborne which will infect too fast.
3. Buy Sneezing.
4. If started in a Best Start, buy Coughing .
5. If started in Madagascar, buy Vomiting. Escaping the island early is more important than saving EPs.
6. Buy Moisture1, Heat1, Cold1.
7. Sell Sweating. (Do not sell Fever. See Notes.)

Note: For the next three instructions, slow the game. The game is likely lost if a Mainland Region has 50,000 infected before the symptoms are sold. If you are watching more than three Mainland Regions to reach a limit, sell the symptom. The game is doing well, and not infecting too fast is more important than waiting to be close to the limit. Notice that each instruction says “Before”; how much “before” depends on the game.

8. Before a Mainland Region or Populous Island reaches 4,000 infected, sell Vomiting.
9. Before a Mainland Region or Populous Island reaches 8,000 infected, sell Coughing.
10. Before a Mainland Region reaches 30,000 infected, sell Sneezing.
11. If any region becomes uninfectable, wait. Sometimes a ship infects a region after shipyards close. If the region remains uninfected after 10 days, restart.
12. When all regions are infected or Vaccine development starts, buy Drug4. This is required to prevent Half-life Effect (last few people take forever to die) and prevents Vaccine development.
13. When all regions are infected, buy Coughing, Tier2, Tier3, Hemorrhaging, Pulmonary Edema, Diarrhea, Kidney Failure, Hypersensitivity, Fever, Fatigue, Vomiting, Sneezing. Buy in this order, saving for the next rather than buying inexpensive symptoms.

Notes
“Sell all symptoms” Flaw in most strategies: You need a fast start infecting. Sneezing, Coughing, and Vomiting help. Everybody agrees Sneezing is necessary. Vomiting is too expensive to buy just to sell quickly, but do not sell it immediately if you start with it. Coughing is slightly less expensive and can cut a week from the time so buy it if not automatic. Fever is almost invisible and desired later – do not sell it. Sweating is the only symptom that should be sold quickly, but wait until the other symptoms and resistances are bought before selling; Sweating won’t do any harm in a week.

“Buy all transmissions” Flaw in most strategies: Once a major region has 20,000 infections, you need to slow the rate of infection. Transmissions increase rate of infection and cannot be sold. Even one Transmission almost guarantees regions will close before the entire world is infected. My PMA Badge game infected the world in 19 days and killed the world in 89 days without any transmissions; transmissions are not necessary and waste EPs needed for deadly symptoms.

Canada Start: Bad. Stay in islands as long as possible. Cannot keep any symptoms once a major region is infected. Canada infects United States early, forcing selling of symptoms and reducing chances for infecting the entire world. Indonesia and Japan are better than Canada, but >50% infection upsets other regions. New Zealand, Cuba, Greenland, and Madagascar can be 100% infected without upsetting other regions, making them Best Starts.

You need Drug4 to avoid the “Half-Life Effect” – only half the people die each day. Very frustrating when the last 10,000 people just won’t die. A game that can be won in under a month with Drug4 can take 4 months with Drug3.

Selling is strategic. Some symptoms increase visibility (bad). The “money” is Evolution Points so any change costs. Vomiting is great for spreading infection, but the combined cost of buying (to spread) and selling (to slow infection) is too great to use other than Madagascar (where infecting quickly is more important than saving EPs.)

My PMA Badge win was Cuba with every region infected in 19 days and won on Day 89.

Winning the badge took me very many attempts as I tried the other strategies and several of my own. Using this strategy with slightly higher limits, I had 5 games under 110 days and a couple dozen only missing a major region (infecting Madagascar, Peru, and Argentina, then missing Russia or East Europe!) I completed under 100 days twice – the badge and once more to prove these instructions work. The second took only a dozen real attempts, much better than the thousand attempts for the first win. I really do not want to spend more time on this game in the near future.

Four people stated in the game comments that they won using the short version of this strategy. The long version includes better instructions and reasons for them, and hopefully will be useful to more players.

A video would be pointless because the game is mostly random. Nobody could win by repeating the steps in a video.

i tried solproviders strategy… and i started in madagascar… i got it 104 days… i was pretty pissed… it was 4AM and i didnt want to try again… i did the strategy 7 times… i think it takes more times to get the best locations than the actual try… ive tried the other pasted strategy but it didnt work after 20+ attempts… i think its more luck that way… solprovider’s strategy is more sound but then again like other people have noted… you cant really knock it before you try it… try it more than once btw…

Can we remove the HUGE cartoon? 1) Everybody has seen it. 2) It can be much smaller. 3) Madagascar is infected in about half the games with my strategy so the cartoon is less relevant than in other threads.

To the developer: Please allow selection of starting region. Players waste more time getting a decent starting region than playing the game. Since we can and do choose the region by restarting many times, please make it easier to reduce the work. Games should not be work.

Just completed the President Madagascar Assassin Badge requirements for seventh time. Took less than an hour including restarts. First attempt started in Madagascar, but West Europe reached 50K infected before selling Symptoms and missed New Zealand. (Always slow the game when approaching a limit.) Win started in Cuba with Fever; won on Day 81.

This method totally works. Madagascar was most often cause for a restart, getting everyone else. When I got Madagascar it would be Peru or something that would mess it all up. I just kept restarting until a “best start.” The first time I got everyone infected, was the time I won in like 82 days. Kudos to the very thorough strategy guide/walkthrough.

This is the BEST strategy I’ve ever tried! (Just to show off my luck and all, i landed first on Cuba) Then with none of the others, the pasted ones, have I ever, EVER gotten onto Madagascar (excepting when that was the start point), and on my VERYFIRST game, I wiped out the whole of humanity in a mere 144 days, and only because I messed up a few intructions, including the half-life one. I would vote for this one 10 million times.

And for those who didn’t get Madagascar, if you followed the directions about the No Airborne, Waterborne, Rodents, and Bugs, wait till Maddy is last, and then when you almost lose hope, just buy all 4, and Maddy should get infected. It did for meh :)

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